One
of my favorite poets, Li Bai, is the representative of romantic poetry in Tang Dynasty.
His poems are usually filled with romantic scenes and various imaginations. An
interesting thing that can be found is that he mentioned wine in many of his poems,
especially those famous ones. Over 1000 poem he wrote has been handed down and one
forth of them is connected with wine.
Wine
means a lot to Li Bai. When he felt extremely happy, he tended to drink a lot with
his friends and then wrote beautiful poems. In most of his poems, however, he wrote
about wine to release his depression. He did not want to compromise to the dignitary. Thus, he annoyed many
of his partners and leaders and was expelled by them. He could not realize his
dreams and he drank to comfort himself.
Although
Li Bai mentioned wine for so many times in his poems, it is not boring to read
these poems. He talked about wine in flexible ways. Sometimes, he described his
feeling after he got drunk; sometimes, he used the container to refer to the
wine; sometimes he chose specific words that were used when people sacrifice
with wine. Because of his superb skills, every poem is unique both in language
and in content.
Wine
and poems are two important components in Li Bai’s life. Wine gave him
inspiration to write the poems and his poems used wine to express his ideas. He
perfectly combined these two factors and offered the world amazing works.
I like LiBai and I think the sword is another symble of him. In Chinese, we have "qi fen jian qi san fen jiu" to descirbe our "poem god--Libai." I appreciate it and I believe the wine, poem, sword can epitomize his life.
ReplyDeleteLi Bai perfectly put wine into his poem. Maybe it is because his poems are between reality and dreams that people can him 'poetry immortal'. I think this is his own style, and I appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI also like Li Bai as you, and his impression on me always is a drunk man versifying a poem elegantly, which is just like his appellation-"Shi Xian"
ReplyDeleteI think Li Bai couldn't survive without wine. He liked drinking wine no matter when he was happy or sad. Wine was a part of life of him. Because of wine, he wrote many famous and classic poems. I remember that he died also because of wine, right? I think maybe wine was a roadblock in this political life in some degree. Anyhow, he is one of the greatest poets in the history of China. I admire him very much!
ReplyDeleteMost Chinese poets are frustrated, The frustrated people like wine. Li Bai is the representative of them. Li Bai's career is not as successful as his poems, but for these reason, he get enough time and special emotion which help him write good poems. It is his tragedy, but it is also his luck.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate Li Bai's poems, too. And when you talk about wine, the first poem comes to my mind is "Qiang Jin Jiu"; it is really one of the best poem that reflects his love of wine and his mettle. I always have the feeling that wine only belongs to Li Bai; not every poet can combine wine and poem so perfect as Li Bai. There is no wonder he was both "Poet Transcendent" and "Wine Immortal".
ReplyDeleteI extremely and extraordinarily like Li Bai, both his peoms and wine. I think he was always creative and can made good poems without many allusions, and most of his poems were not about the politics. I like him very much.
ReplyDelete